


The stars in your eyes

by mseg_21



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Date Night, Eddie Kaspbrak Is In Love, Established Relationship, M/M, Reddie, Richie Tozier is a Good Boyfriend, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 02:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21129278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mseg_21/pseuds/mseg_21
Summary: “Richie, are we lost? We’re lost, aren’t we?” Eddie said after they had been driving for a while, past old buildings that Eddie didn’t recognize and he was the one who had lived there for three months.“We’re not lost Eds, relax.”“We’re literally in the middle of nowhere Rich, unless you’re planning to have our date in the side of the road I can’t think of a place around here where you could be taking me.”Richie just smiled at him. “You’ll see.”“You’re going to get us murdered. Or robbed.” Eddie said but kept quiet after that, only mouthing along to the songs on the radio.





	The stars in your eyes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marsisaplanet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsisaplanet/gifts).

> This is fic is for my 1K celebration, Mady wanted a reddie dinner date in college. MAJOR FLUFF ALERT.

“Oh, cute guy alert.” Kay said, setting her phone on the table to stare at something over Eddie’s shoulder.

He let out a snort, not looking up from his laptop. He had fifteen minutes to send his essay to his professor and he wasn’t going to miss the deadline to stare at a guy that he had zero interest in. 

“Is it the cute delivery guy again?” Audra asked, leaning on Kay to get a better view. The three of them were sitting at a table on campus. Eddie, so he could send his essay before heading back to his room and Kay and Audra, because they didn’t feel like walking all the way to their dorm building only to have to walk back for their last class of the day. 

“No, but he looks familiar.”

“Maybe he’s in one of your classes.” Eddie said distractedly.

“Yeah maybe. Oh god!” Kay gasped, jolting in her seat. “He’s coming this way!” She said, averting her gaze and picking up her phone to pretend she hadn’t been watching the guy. “Do you think he’s here to invite us to that big party tonight? I hope he is.” 

“Don’t you have, like, a billion tests to study for?” Audra asked with a laugh.

“I can always make time for a party.” Kay responded, shrugging. Her eyes darted over Eddie’s shoulder again. “Besides it’s Friday and it’s not like we have any other plans for tonight.”

Eddie heard footsteps approaching, but he didn’t care about this cute guy or being invited to a dumb party. He was more concerned with writing down his professor’s email address and turning in his essay. 

“Speak for yourself ,” He said, finally hitting send. He looked up to smirk at Kay. “Because  _ I _ have a date tonight.”

“I hope you mean a date with me because if you don’t, then this is going to be really fucking awkward.” A startingly familiar voice said behind him.

Eddie spun around to face the person that voice belonged to and gasped when he saw Richie standing there. He took in his wild hair, his checkered shirt and ripped jeans, his blue eyes and thick rimmed glasses. His crooked grin, that still looked so familiar to Eddie even if he hadn’t seen it in person in almost three months.

Without a word Eddie scrambled to his feet before practically launching himself at Richie, wrapping his arms around his neck.

Richie let out a surprised sound, his arms going around Eddie’s waist, pulling him closer. “Hey Spaghetti,” Richie whispered against his hair.

Instead of answering, Eddie pulled back just enough to catch Richie’s lips in a kiss that his boyfriend returned happily.

“Eddie, Eds.” Richie whispered against his lips. “Eddie, not that I’m not enjoying the greeting, but your friends⎯ they’re⎯”

“I don’t care.” Eddie insisted, planting kisses on Richie’s face, lost in the feeling of having Richie there with him. 

He distantly heard his friends talking behind him, either to each other or to him, Eddie wasn’t sure.

“Well,” Kay said, sounding slightly disappointed that the cute guy she had been checking out turned out to be Eddie’s long-distance boyfriend. “You must be Richie. Now I get why you looked familiar.”

Eddie kissed Richie one last time, before taking a step back. Richie’s arm immediately wrapped around Eddie’s shoulder and they turned to face the two girls. 

“Yes, that’s me.” 

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Audra said, sneaking a glance at Eddie. He knew he probably looked deliriously happy right now. 

“You too, you must be Kay.” Richie said, glancing at her first. “And you must be Audra.” Eddie’s lips tugged up into a smile, he’d told Richie about them and shared often shared pictures of the two of them with him and Bev. “Eds talks a lot about you.”

“Not as much as he talks about  _ you _ I bet.” Audra said with a smirk. “Which is all the time.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, feeling his cheeks getting warm. “Not all the time.” He glanced at Richie, lowering his voice. “Not all the time.”

Richie gave him a shit eating grin. “That’s fucking cute Eds.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Eddie hissed, his cheeks now a bright red. “Like you’re any different.”

“Of course not! Why wouldn’t I talk about you always?”

Kay and Audra cooed at them, Eddie tried to fight the smile that threatened to break in his face and failed. “Whatever, w hat are you doing here?” 

Richie gasped, giving Eddie a disbelieving smile. “It’s date night Eddie baby, or did you forget?”

“Of course I didn’t.” Eddie said with an eye roll. “But I thought we would just skype like we always do, you dweeb.”

They had been doing that for as long as they’d been apart, since they all left Derry to go to college. Richie lived a three-hour car ride away from Eddie and even if it wasn’t much, between classes, studying and keeping a part time job, it was hard for Richie to visit him and Bev, who was at the same college as Eddie. And since Eddie didn’t have a car, he couldn’t visit Richie either. They would talk on and off during the week but on Friday night, their official date night, they would Skype and watch movies together and talk to each other until one of them fell asleep. 

“Well, I got tired of making out with my laptop screen, I wanted the real thing.” Richie said with a sly grin, squeezing Eddie’s shoulder. “So I thought I’d drive down here so we could have a  _ real  _ date night.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to surprise you Eds.”

Both girls said  _ aww _ . “That is so sweet.” Kay cooed.

“You didn’t tell us your boyfriend was so romantic Eddie!” Audra added.

“Yeah, that’s me. The romantic boyfriend.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, he wanted to say that this was the same boyfriend that gave Eddie a coupon for their one month anniversary, but he did drive all the way here just to surprise him so he let Richie have this one. 

“How did you know where to find me?” Eddie asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. Richie’s grin was enough of an answer. “Bev.”

“Yeah, she told me I would find you here after class.” 

“She knew?” Eddie asked, Richie nodded. “That sneaky little shit. I knew she was acting weird, I just thought that maybe it was the excitement of seeing Ben soon.”

Richie chuckled. “No, she helped me plan everything.”

“Wait, everything?” Eddie narrowed his eyes at him. “What else are you hiding from me?” 

“Sorry baby, you’ll have to wait until tonight to find out.” Richie winked. “But right now your mighty chariot awaits good sir.” He said, pointing behind him where Eddie could see Richie’s car parked in the curb. 

“There’s nothing mighty about that but okay.” Eddie said, letting go of Richie for the first time since he saw him to pick up his things. 

“Ladies, it was nice to meet you but Eddie and I have three months of being apart to make up for.” Richie said. 

“Very subtle Rich.” Eddie groaned, hearing his friends giggle. 

“Have fun.” Kay said, winking at them for good measure. 

“Oh, I plan on it.” Richie said, throwing an arm over Eddie’s shoulder again, placing a kiss on his head. Eddie was glad they walked away before they could see how much his blush had deepened. 

Richie opened the door for Eddie, just like he had many times in the past. He might complain about this old death trap but Eddie had to admit he had missed it. It was Richie’s after all and Eddie had spent most of his time in Derry riding shotgun in this car. 

It was the car Richie drove them in to their first date, the summer before their senior year ⎯ a dinner and a movie, nothing they hadn’t done a million times before but unlike those times, at the end of the night Richie had parked the car in Eddie’s driveway and awkwardly leaned over the space between the seats to kiss Eddie for the first time. 

The backseat carried quite a lot of memories too, as teenagers living with their parents they didn’t have a lot of privacy so whenever they wanted some alone time, Richie would park the car near the barrens and they would both climb in the back and make out to the sound of Richie’s old cassettes. 

More recently it was in this car that Richie used to drive Eddie, Bev and himself out of Derry, the three of them flipping off the  _ come back soon _ sign as they drove by. Richie had dropped them off, help them get settled before going his own way. 

There were a lot of memories in between those and Eddie stared off at the distance while he went over them in his head. At least until Richie pinched his cheek, startling him. 

“Don’t do that.” Eddie said, shoving Richie’s hand away. “Why did you do that?”

“You were staring off into space and as much as I want to drive us to your room, you’d kill me if I dared to turn on the engine before you put on your seatbelt.” 

“Oh. Right.” Eddie buckled his seatbelt and Richie was able to start the car. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“I was the one who drove you here, remember?” 

“Yeah but you’re also the one who got lost driving me home one time.” Eddie said, deadpan. “In Derry, where we lived our entire lives.”

Richie barked out a laugh. “No I didn’t, I took a wrong turn because I didn’t want to say goodbye just yet.”

Eddie gasped, slapping Richie’s leg. “You asshole! My mom grounded me for a week for missing curfew that night!”

Richie grabbed Eddie’s hand before he could hit him again, laced their fingers together and kissed the back of it. “Yes but it was worth it.” 

Eddie tried to glare at him but his expression softened at the kiss and the moony eyes Richie was giving him. “Idiot.” He muttered but his tone was fond. He squeezed Richie’s hand. “I can’t believe that you’re here. I’ve missed you.”

Richie grinned, struggling to keep his eyes off Eddie and on the road and control the car with just one hand. “I’ve missed you too Eds.” 

“For how long are you staying?” 

“I have to drive back tomorrow afternoon, I have a drama club meeting early on Sunday, which fucking sucks.”

Eddie pouted, he had hoped to have Richie with him for the whole weekend at least. “That’s not enough.”

“I know.” Richie said, his own mouth curled downwards. “But we’re seeing each other again in two weeks remember? For Thanksgiving.”

Eddie perked up, Richie was right. And they would not only be seeing each other again, but the rest of the losers too. Eddie missed every single one of them, except maybe Bev who went to the same college as him, and he couldn’t wait until they were back together, all seven of them. The thought made him smile.

The drive to Eddie’s building went by quickly, they talked about anything that would come to mind⎯ friends, classes, homework, holding hands the entire time. Richie’s plans, which he refused to tell Eddie about, wouldn’t be happening until a few hours, so Eddie lead them both to his room. Will, his roommate, was away for the weekend so they had it all to themselves.

Richie glanced around, immediately heading to Eddie’s side of the room, which he probably recognized due to Eddie’s color-organized desk, the thundercats poster hanging over his bed and the collage of photos that decorated most of the wall. 

When Bev saw it for the first time she pointed out the collage was on the unbalanced side. Pictures of Richie took up roughly half of the wall⎯ one of Bev and Richie smiling as they flipped off the camera, one of Richie and Mike feeding the sheep at the farm, another one of Richie and Bill trying to drown each other in the quarry. Candids of Richie, him laughing at one of his own stupid jokes, another one of him sleeping with his head on Eddie’s lap or showing off his middle school braces. There were also pictures of Richie and Eddie, both before and after they started dating and right in the middle of the collage there was Eddie’s favorite, a photo of the seven of them with their caps and gowns on the day of their graduation, grinning at the camera. 

Richie traced the pictures with his fingers, smiling at them, Eddie used the opportunity to look at Richie. He hadn’t changed since the last time he saw him in person, his hair was slightly longer, he had a faint stubble and his lips were more chapped, something Eddie noticed when he kissed him earlier. He didn’t care but he would make sure to give him shit later for not using the lip balm Eddie gave him before they went their separate ways.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Richie asked, now looking at Eddie. 

He shrugged. “What? I can’t just admire my boyfriend?” 

“Of course you can Eds.” Richie said delighted. “But it’s that all you’re going to do? Because you can do that on skype, you know.”

Eddie gave him a sly grin, sauntering over to him, sliding his fingers in Richie’s belt buckles. “I know a thing or two that I can’t do on skype.”

Richie’s answering grin was devilish. “Show me.” Eddie didn’t need to be told twice.

An hour later they were both lying in bed in just their underwear, watching old  _ Friends  _ episodes when Richie checked his watch and cursed. 

“We gotta go.” He said, pausing the episode. 

“Do we really have to?” Eddie whined, not wanting to leave the bed and Richie’s arms when he was so warm and comfortable. 

“I didn’t drive all the way here so that we could do the same thing we do every Friday.”

Eddie smirked. “I don’t blow you every Friday.”

Richie snorted, kissing Eddie’s forehead. “Oh god I wish.” He said. “Still we gotta go, we can have round two when we come back.”

“When we come back from  _ where _ ?” 

“I told you it’s a surprise.”

Eddie pouted, kissing Richie’s naked chest and staring up at him wide, pleading eyes. “Please.”

“I won’t be persuaded, you little minx.” Richie said, gently pushing Eddie off of him. “Now peep peep and tally-ho, my love. We have a date to get to.” 

Eddie rolled his eyes but rolled out of bed, heading for the small closet. He paused. “Wait, what should I wear?”

“If it was up to me, nothing.” 

Eddie let out a snort. “I’m serious asshole. Stop thinking with your dick for a second.”

“Just wear whatever Eds, you’ll look cute no matter what.”

“There’s a difference between looking cute and being dressed appropriately.” He insisted. 

“Fine, that red sweater with the white cuffs? Wear that.” 

Eddie’s mouth curled up in a smile. “You gave me that sweater.”

“Because I knew you would look like a snack in it and I was right.” 

Eddie chuckled, blushing the way he did everytime Richie complimented him and searched for the sweater, while Richie put on the same clothes he had been wearing earlier. He found some jeans and white sneakers to go with it and Richie pulled Eddie in for a kiss, whispering, “You look amazing.” Then he grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the room before they could get distracted. 

“Richie, are we lost? We’re lost, aren’t we?” Eddie said after they had been driving for a while, past old buildings that Eddie didn’t recognize and he was the one who had lived there for three months. 

“We’re not lost Eds, relax.” 

“We’re literally in the middle of nowhere Rich, unless you’re planning to have our date in the side of the road I can’t think of a place around here where you could be taking me.”

Richie just smiled at him. “You’ll see.”

“You’re going to get us murdered. Or robbed.” Eddie said but kept quiet after that, only mouthing along to the songs on the radio. Soon enough, Richie was pulling over to the entrance of a building, a museum, except it was closed and all the lights inside were off. 

Richie started to get out of the car, Eddie followed him in confusion. 

“Uh, Richie I’m pretty sure the place is closed.” Eddie said as they approached the building and tried the door that was unsurprisingly closed. Eddie watched as he peeked through the window and muttered to himself. “Rich, it’s closed okay? It says so right here, it shut two hours ago.”

Richie dropped his head against the window. “Eds, do you trust me?” Eddie gave a noncommittal shrug. “This is all under control. I just need to find Dale.”

Eddie wrinkled his nose, sighing. “Who the fuck is Dale?”

“Dale is ⎯” Richie began, before the sound of keys jangling behind them caused them both to turn around. Eddie instinctively reached for Richie’s hand, wrapping his fingers around his, sure that they were about to be robbed or kidnapped or murdered. Damn it Richie. “Dale is here!” He finished with a grin. 

Dale stared at them, he looked slightly older than them and was holding a huge set of keys in his hand and a bored expression on his face. 

“I’m guessing you’re Richie.” 

“Yes I am.” Eddie stared at him with a dumbfounded expression, he didn’t understand what was going on. “And this is Eddie, my boyfriend.”

“Yeah Bev said there would be two of you.” Dale said, walking past them to slot one of the keys into the lock, before throwing open the door. Eddie stared at Richie even more confused at the mention of Bev.

“Two hours, dude.” Dale said. “That was the condition.”

Richie nodded, answering cheerfully. “Out by midnight, I remember.” He clapped his hand onto Dale’s back as he dragged Eddie inside. “And it just locks automatically behind us at night?”

“Yeah.” Dale answered. “I’m not joking about the curfew though, understood?”

“Sir yes, sir.” Richie said with a salute. “Thanks man.” He placed his hand on the small of Eddie’s back and ushered him into the museum. The door shut behind them and Richie led them forward into the shadows. 

“Okay I’m officially fucking confused and slightly scared. What the fuck Rich?” Eddie said, letting his boyfriend guide him. 

Richie chuckled. “Dale is Bev’s roommate's boyfriend. When I told her about my plan to drive here and whisk you away for dinner, she told me that if I was gonna romance the hell out of you, then I just couldn’t take you to some lame college restaurant. She mentioned this place, told me that this guy owed her a favor and suggested I brought you here.”

“To an empty museum?”

Richie tilted his head from side to side. “Not exactly.” Without saying anything else he led them to a dimly lit room. It was hard but Eddie could still see that in the center of the room there was a blanket spread on the floor with a picnic basket on top of it. He drew in a sharp breath, turning to face Richie who was watching his reaction with a smile that was both soft and cocky. 

“There you have it, dinner for two.” He said, before flipping on a switch. The room brightened as incredibly realistic-looking stars appeared in the dark ceiling. “Under the stars.”

Eddie stared, gawking. “Richie, this is ⎯” He trailed off, shaking his head.

“The most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for you?” Richie teased, but Eddie could only stare back at him with wonder because yeah, it was. 

Eddie stood on his tiptoes and kissed Richie, hard. He was taken by surprise but recovered quickly, hands reaching up to cradle Eddie’s face. 

“I take it you like it?” 

“I  _ love  _ it.” Eddie said, kissing Richie’s smile. “And I love  _ you _ .” 

Even if they had said it before, Eddie never felt more in love with Richie than he did right now. 

“You sap.” Richie teased but he kissed Eddie’s nose. 

Eddie rolled his eyes half heartedly. “Dude! You drove three hours to surprise me, brought me to a planetarium and made dinner for me. You’re the fucking sap.”

Richie laughed, reaching up to adjust his glasses, they’d slide off while they were kissing. “Touché spaghetti.” He said. “I love you too by the way, in case it wasn’t ⎯ you know, obvious.” He finished pointing at their picnic. Eddie couldn’t help but lean up and kiss Richie again. “Come on Eds, let’s eat. We can make out later, that’s what I brought the blanket for.”

Eddie let out a snort, walking over and sitting carefully on the blanket, curling his legs underneath him. Richie flopped down next to him with the elegance of a newborn giraffe, reaching for the picnic basket. 

“Who brought these here?” Eddie asked, digging into his Subway sandwich. “They’re still warm.” 

“Who do you think?”

Eddie shrugged. “I don’t know, that Dale guy?” 

“Bev could barely convince him to let us come here, I doubt he would’ve been happy fetching our fucking dinner.”

“Yeah probably.” Eddie agreed with a snort. “Was it Bev?” Richie nodded. “We really owe her a big thank you.”

“We can tell her tomorrow, we’re meeting her for lunch.”

Eddie cocked his head to the side. “We are?” 

“Yeah, she would kill me if I drove all the way here and didn’t see her.” Richie said, sipping on his soda. “And after she helped me pull this off I think I owe her at least a meal.”

“Yeah you’re probably right.” Eddie said with a laugh. 

They ate their food, stopping every once in a while to tell each other whatever they hadn’t covered earlier. When they finished, Richie laid back on the floor staring up at where the stars sprinkled the ceiling above them. Eddie did the same, leaning back on his hands. “It’s beautiful.” He said.

“Yeah.” Richie breathed out. Eddie looked down and saw that Richie wasn’t looking at the ceiling anymore, but at him with the mooniest heart eyes Eddie had ever seen.

“Oh my god.” He said, huffing out a laugh. 

“What?”

“That was so fucking cheesy. You’re getting soft Tozier.” 

He realized his awful choice of words when Richie flashed him a sly grin. “Get over here and I’ll show you how hard I can get.” 

Eddie balled up a napkin and threw it at Richie’s face, but he still crawled over to him, nestling in the crook of his arm. They stared at the ceiling, Richie coming up with ridiculous names for the constellations and Eddie correcting him. By the time it was midnight their conversation had trailed off to a comfortable, peaceful silence. Eddie was starting to drift off into sleep when Richie bit on his ear lightly.

“Time to go Cinderella, it’s already midnight.”

Eddie groaned like the last time Richie had forced him to leave the comfort of his arms, but he didn’t want Dale to come kick them out, so he rolled over and help Richie clean up. 

It was dark outside but there were no stars. Richie tossed the basket and the blanket on the back seat. He opened the door for Eddie, heading for his own door but he stopped him, grabbing Richie’s hand. 

“What is it Spaghetti?” 

Eddie shrugged, playing with Richie’s fingers. “Just ⎯ thank you. For driving here and for doing all of this.” He said, looking up at him with heart eyes that rivaled Richie’s. “And for being the best boyfriend ever.” 

Richie’s responding grin was blinding, he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Mind saying it again but louder Eds? You know, for when you say I’m the worst boyfriend after I wake you up with my snoring tonight.”

“If your snoring wakes me up, you’ll no longer  _ be  _ my boyfriend.” Eddie quipped, but his smile betrayed his words. “Now let’s go, the longer we stay here the more I feel like we’re going to get murdered and that’s not the ending I want for our date night.”

Richie grinned, giving Eddie a sweet short kiss. “I have a better ending in my mind.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Does it involve your dick?”

“Eds, you horndog!” Richie gasped, hand clutching at his chest. Then his scandalized expression turned smug and he winked. “You know it does.” 

“Well let’s go then.” Eddie said, climbing on the car. “I want to end this night with a bang.” He winked and Richie threw his head back, his laughter the only sound to be heard in the silence of the night. 

Eddie watched him laugh from the car, feeling something pull at his heartstrings and realized he was wrong before. It was right now, watching Richie with his cheeks flushed from laughter and his eyes shining with happy tears, that he was the most in love with him that he had ever been. 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment or find me on tumblr  
[jem-castairs-is-perfection](http://jem-carstairs-is-perfection.tumblr.com/)


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